Rod handling system

ABSTRACT

A ROD HANDLING SYSTEM CONSISTING OF A LAYING REEL FOR DEPOSITING ROD DELIVERED FROM A ROLLING MILL IN NONCONCENTRIC CONVOLUTIONS ON A MOVING CONVEYOR FOR COOLING. THE SPEED OF THE LAYING REEL IS VARIED RELATIVE TO THE SPEED OF THE ROD TO FORM SUCCESSIVE ROD CONVOLUTIONS WITH VARYING DIAMETERS THAT RANGE PROGRESSIVELY BETWEEN THE OUTSIDE AND INSIDE DIAMETERS OF THE ROD BUNDLE TO BE ULTIMATELY FORMED. THE CONVEYOR DELIVERS THE ROD TO A BUNDLING DEVICE WHERE THE CONVOLUTIONS ARE COLLECTED TO FORM A BUNDLE IN EITHER OF TWO CIRCULAR RECESSES FORMED 180 DEGREES APART IN A ROTATABLE GATHERING DRUM WHICH IS PARTIALLY ENCLOSED ABOUT ITS PERIPHERY BY A HOUSING. THE HOUSING HAS AN OPENING AT THE TOP FOR PASSAGE OF THE ROD CONVOLUTIONS INTO ONE OF THE DRUM&#39;&#39;S RECESSES AND, AT THE BOTTOM OF THE HOUSING, A VERTICALLY DISPLACEABLE PLATEN IS LOCATED FOR DISCHARGING THE ROD BUNDLE AFTER THE DRUM IS ROTATED 180 DEGREES. THIS ROTATION ALSO SEVERS THE ROD INTO A DISCRETE BUNDLE BY EMPLOYING COOPERATIVE SHEAR KNIVES, ONE KNIFE CARRIED BY THE DRUM AT THE TOP OF THE RECESS AND THE OTHER CARRIED BY THE HOUSING AT THE OPENING IN ITS TOP.

Jan. 2 197,1 M. P. SIEGERI I 3,557,433

ROD HANDLING SYSTEM Filed July 1, 1968 s Sheets-Sheet 1 l|| INVENTOR MAURICE P. SIEGYER BY HIS ATTORNEY M. P. SIEGER ROD HANDLING SYSTEM Jan. 26; 1971 Filed July 1, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR MAURICE R SIEGER ms AZI'TO'RNEY Jan. 1971 M. P. SIEGER I 3,557,433

ROD HANDLING SYSTEM Filed July 1, 1968 3 SheetsSheet 5 FIG.I

FIG. III

INVENTOR MAURICE R SIEGER HIS AT TORNEY United States Patent Ofiiice US. Cl. 29-429 8 Claims ABSTRACTOF THE DISCLOSURE A rod handling system consisting of a laying reel for depositing rod delivered from a rolling mill in nonconcentric convolutions on a moving conveyor for cooling. The speed of the laying reel is varied relative to the speed of the rod to form successive rod convolutions with varying diameters that range progressively between the outside and inside diameters of the rod bundle to be ultimately formed. The conveyor delivers the rod to a bundling device where the convolutions are collected to form a bundle in either'of two circular recesses formed 180 degrees apart in a rotatable gathering drum which is partially enclosed about its periphery by a housing. The housing has an opening at the top for passage of the rod convolutions into one of the drums recesses and, at the bottom of the housing, a vertically displaceable platen is located for discharging the rod bundle after the drum is rotated 180 degrees. This rotation also severs the rod into a discrete bundle by employing cooperative shear knives, one knife carried by the drum at the top of the recess and the other carried by the housing at the opening in its top.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention is addressed to handling hot metallic rod after it is delivered from 'a rolling mill and, more particularly, to the formation of such rod into stable, easy-tohandle bundles. v

It is well known in the art to form rod into bundles by V employing a laying reel to deposit the rod in superimposed convolutions randomly positioned within a stationary basket of the reel. During this time, it is the usual practice to direct coolant, such as air, on the rod and particularly the bundle as it is formed.

It is also known in the art to employ a reel for depositing rod delivered from a rolling mill directly onto a moving conveyor in the form of non-concentric convolutions of the same diameter for cooling. At the delivery end of the conveyor, the rod convolutions are collected in a random manner to form a bundle. Examples of apparatus known in the art to form a bundle in this manner are disclosed in US. Pats. Nos. 3,176,385 and 3,360,842.

In the above-mentioned rod bundle forming arrangements, the bundles produced thereby are unstable and awkward to handle, particularly during transferring and further processing. This is primarily caused by the random location of rod convolutions making up the bundle. The instability of such bundles is further aggravated by the present-day trend to form bundles of 3,000 pounds or greater in place of the heretofore common practice of forming 300 to 400-poundbundles. This places serious limitations on known bundle forming arrangements and bundle handling equipment.

The present invention is particularly useful in combination with the process disclosed in US. Pat. No. 3,182,174

3,557,438 Patented Jan. 26, 1971 travel of the rod and by employing one reel for each strand of rod.

It is one object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for handling rods at the delivery end of a rolling mill and forming the rod into stable bundles having maximum weight for a given height of rod bundle. It is another object of this invention to provide a rod handling system wherein bundles of rods are formed in rapid succession without interrupting the travel of the rod after leaving the roll-ing rnill.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION In one form of the present invention, there is provided a method of handling rod delivered from a rolling mill comprising the steps of:

depositing such rod onto a moving conveyor in the form of non-concentric rod convolutions, the convolutions being characterized by having different diameters which change progressively between the outside and inside diameter of the rod bundle to be ultimately formed,

cooling the rod by subjecting each convolution to a coolant medium,

collecting the rod convolutions into a bundle in a circumferential opening projecting into a drum,

said bundle being characterized by free-standing stability and substantially consisting of layers of rod convolutions,

severing the rod by rotating said drum to form a discrete bundle in said drum.

In another form the present invention provides a rod handling system in combination with a rolling mill, comprising a reel including drive means for forming rod delivered from the rolling mill into convolutions with progressively varying diameters ranging between a maxi mum and a minimum; a conveyor for receiving the rod convolutions in a non-concentric relation; means for cooling the rod while on said conveyor; a bundle-forming means for collecting the rod convolutions comprising a drum rotatably supported about a horizontal axis and having at least two diametrically opposed circular recesses projecting from its periphery inward; means for rotating the drum to interchangeably position the recesses between the rod collecting and discharge positions that are degrees disposed from each other; shear means carried by the bundle forming means and actuated upon rotation of the drum; and delivery means for remotely locating bundles from a recess when in the discharge position.

The present invention also provides an improved rod bundle forming means comprising a drum supported about a horizontal axis; drive means for rotating the drum, the drum having at least one circular recess projecting from its outer surface inward for collecting rod; a housing partly encompassing the outer surface of the drum, the housing having an opening at the top for passage of rod into the :drums recess and an opening at the bottom of the housing for discharge of a rod bundle from the recess; and a vertically displaceable platen for receiving a rod bundle discharged from the recess.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These features and advantages, as well as others, will be better appreciated from the following description thereof when considered along with the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is anelevational view of one form of the present invention;

FIG..2 is a sectional view taken along line II II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of rod convolutions on a conveyor illustrating the progressive change in the convolut-ion diameter;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the rod gathering device illustrated in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a second embodiment of the rod gathering device.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The rod handling system illustrated in FIG. 1 comprises a laying reel for receiving rod delivered from a rolling mill 11 and forming it into convolutions which are deposited on a moving conveyor 12. The conveyor is constructed in any conventional manner well known in the art. The reel is also constructed in a manner well known in the art and includes a laying cone 13 that is operatively connected by a gear train, not shown, to a variable speed drive motor 14 for rotating the cone at the progressively and cyclically varying speed to produce rod convolutions such as shown in FIG. 3. An electric control 14a, well known in the art, per se, is employed to cyclically vary the speed of the motor 14. In one form this electrical control comprises a driven rotary-type rheostat. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other means may be employed to cyclically vary the speed of the cone 13. An example of such other means is elliptical gearing interconnecting the motor and the cone 13.

Illustrated in FIG. 3 are a series of nonconcentric rod convolutions while they are located on the conveyor 12. As is readily apparent from this figure, each successive rod convolution has a different diameter and these diameters vary progressively between the largest outside diameter and the smallest inside diameter of the rod bundle to be ultimately formed. It is contemplated by the present invention that the ultimate bundle will be made up substantially of layers of rod convolutions as best shown in FIG. 4, each layer comprising a set of rod convolutions having different diameters ranging from the outside to the inside diameter of the ultimate bundle.

The rod convolutions deposited on the conveyor 12 are cooled in any conventional manner, such as for example, by forced air cooling within a shroud 15. After cooling, the rod convolutions are discharged into a bundling device 16 by a pair of pinch roll belts 17. These belts grip the rod convolutions at their edges and carry them from the conveyor over the device 16 where they are released at such a position so as to drop by gravity into the device 16. The pair of pinch roll belts, in addition to being adjustable relative to each other by the spring-biased arm 18, are vertically positionable as a unit relative to the gathering device by a drive means 19, which may take the form of a motor-operated screw jack.

Mechanically interconnected by a frame 19a with the pinch roll belt unit is the end of the conveyor 12 whereby it also assumes the same relative vertical position as the pinch roll belts.

The bundling device 16, which is illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4, includes a drum 21 mounted in a cantilever manner by a shaft 22 for rotation about a horizontal axis by a drive 23. The drum 21 is provided with two diametrically opposed circular recesses 24 and 25 which project from the periphery of the drum inwardly toward each other. Circular plugs 26 and 27 project concentrically from the recesses 24 and 25, respectively, to form circular areas 28 and 29 for collecting rod convolutions into a bundle. As best shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the drum 21 is partly enclosed by a stationary housing 31 which includes an upper semicircular member 32 for guiding the rod convolutions into the circular areas of the drum. Complementing the member 32 is a semicircular member 33 secured to the frame 19a and vertically movable into relieved areas 34 of the drum by the drive 19. The semicircular members 32 and 33 together form a circular guide having an opening corresponding to the recesses 24 and 25.

Incorporated in the bundling device 16 are shear means to sever the rod being collected into bundles of desired sizes which may be on the order of 1,200 pounds. This shear means comprises a shear knife 35 supported in the member 32 adapted to cooperate with either of the knives 36 and 37 secured in the relieved area 34 of the drum. The rod is severed by operating the drive 23 to rotate the drum and bring either of the knives 36 and 37 into cooperative shearing relation with the knife 35. Just prior to severing the rod, the drive 19 is actuated to elevate the end of the conveyor 12, the pinch roll belt unit, and the semicircular member 33 to a position where the member 33 is located above the surface of the drum, as shown in FIG. 4.

Following shearing, the drum will pass through the position shown in FIG. 4. In this position, rod convolutions continue to be collected on the peripheral surface 38 of the drum until further rotated an additional degrees. After this rotation, the bundle collected in the area 28 will fall downward out of the area onto a curved platen 39 serving as part of the housing 31. A piston cylinder assembly 41 secured to the platen lowers the bundle into alignment with a conveyor 42 at one end of the platen. At the other end of the platen, a pusher is located for moving the bundle from the platen onto the conveyor. The pusher is essentially made up of a curved head member 43 secured to a piston cylinder assembly 44. Illustrated in FIG. 5 is a second embodiment of the bundling device which essentially differs from the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4 by the substitution of the drum 55 in place of the drum 21. The drum 55 has four equallyspaced collecting areas 51, 52, 53 and 54, each constructed in a manner similar to the areas 28 and 29 of the drum 21.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained the principle and operation of my invention and have illustrated and described what I consider to represent the best embodiment thereof. However, I desire to have it understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

I claim:

1. A method of processing a heated elongated rod comprising the steps of:

depositing said rod onto a moving conveyor in a manner to form non-concentric convolutions of different diameters which change progressively between the outside and inside diameters of a rod bundle to be ultimately formed;

cooling the rod by subjecting such convolution to a coolant medium;

collecting the rod convolutions in a manner to form a free-standing stable bundle having uniform horizontal rows of rod convolutions.

2. A method of processing a heated rod according to claim 1 wherein said rod convolutions are collected in an opening projecting into a drum, comprising the additional steps of:

severing the rod by rotating said drum to form a discrete bundle in said opening;

continuously collecting rod convolutions to form part of a succeeding bundle on the peripheral surface of said drum until further rotation of said drum positions a circumferential opening for completing the formation of a succeeding rod bundle.

3. A rod handling system in combination with a rod processing device comprising:

a reel including drive means for forming rod delivered from the device into convolutions with progressively varying diameters ranging between a predetermined maximum and a predetermined minimum;

a conveyor for receiving the rod convolutions in a non-concentric relation;

means for cooling the rod while on said conveyor;

bundle forming means for collecting the rod convolutions;

said bundle forming means including a drum rotatably supported about a horizontal axis and having at least two diametrically opposed circular recesses projecting inward from the periphery of said drum;

means for rotating the drum to interchangeably position the recesses between a rod bundle forming and rod bundle discharge position; and

delivery means for remotely locating a formed rod bundle from a recess when in said discharge position.

4. A rod bundling system according to claim 3 further comprising:

shear means carried by said bundle forming means and actuated by rotation of said drum.

5. A rod bundling system according to claim 3 further comprising:

pinch, roll belt means for engaging said rod convolutions delivered from said conveyor and discharging said convolutions into said recesses when in said rod bundle forming position.

6. A rod bundle forming apparatus comprising:

a drum supported about a horizontal axis;

said drum constructed with a circular recess projecting from its outer surface inward for collecting rod into a bundle; 1

a housing partly encompassing the outer surface of said drum;

an opening at the top of said housing for passage of rod into said recess to form a bundle;

an opening at the bottom of said housing for discharge of a rod bundle from said recess;

drive means for rotating said drum to position said recess between said openings at the top and bottom of said housing; and

a vertically displaceable platen for remotely locating a rod bundle discharged from the recess. 7. A rod bundle forming apparatus according to claim 6 further comprising:

a first shear. lgnife carried by said housing in said opening at the top; a second shear knife carried by said drum in said recess; said first and second shear knives being constructed and arranged for cooperative shearing relationships by rotation of said drum. 8. A rod bundle forming apparatus according to claim 6 wherein:

said drum is constructed with a plurality of circular recesses projecting from the surface of said drum.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,176,385 4/1965 Morgan et al 72426X 3,182,174 5/1965 Sims 29-487X 3,360,842 1/1969 Hill et a1. 29-208X 3,365,791 1/1968 Olsson 29-527.6

THOMAS H. EAGER, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,557 ,438 Dated January 26, 1971 Inventor) Maurice Paul S1eger It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 4 line 45 "such" should read each Signed and sealed this 15th day of June 1971.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, JP Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents FORM F O-1050 (ID-69) USCOMM-DC 0031: 

